SPACE EXPLORATION

Under President Trump's predecessor, in 2010 President Obamacancelled, and effectivelyshut down, NASA's five-year effort (named theConstellation Program) to return astronauts to the moon citing budget cuts.

*Update: President Donald Trump signed an executive order re-establishing the National Space Council for the first time in nearly 25 years, signed an executive order for a new 6th branch of the military focused solely on space call Space Force and NASA completed its first mission to the sun and its outermost atmosphere.

3/21/17: President Donald J. Trump signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transition Authorization Act of 2017, the first comprehensive NASA authorization passed by Congress in more than six years. The bill demonstrates strong bipartisan support for our Nation’s space program and helps ensure that NASA remains at the forefront of exploration and discovery.

6/30/17: President Donald Trump signed an executive order to re-establish the National Space Council, reviving an entity that was formed during the 1960s race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to reach the moon first. “Space exploration is not only essential to our character as a nation but our economy and our great nation’s security,” Trump said adding, “I think privatization of certain aspects is going to play an important role.”

10/6/17: Lamenting that the U.S. has "lost our edge in space," Vice President Pence vowed to send Americans back to the lunar surface as part of a broader strategy to reclaim the ground rival nations have gained over the past decade. "We will return Americans astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags but to build the foundation we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond," "Rather than lead in space, too often, we've chosen to drift," he said. "And, as we learned 60 years ago, when we drift, we fall behind." Pence said at the inaugural meeting of the National Space Council.

12/12/17: President Donald Trump vowed that the United States will remain the leader in space exploration as he began a process to return Americans to the moon. "We are the leader and we're going to stay the leader, and we're going to increase it many fold," Trump said in signing "Space Policy Directive 1" that establishes a foundation for a mission to the moon with an eye on going to Mars.

​2/11/18: The Trump administration is looking to privatize the International Space Station.

​6/18/18: President Trump directs the Defense Department to 'immediately begin the process' of establishing 'space force' as sixth military branch.

8/9/18: Vice President Pence called for America to assert its dominance in space as he made a direct appeal to the Pentagon for a sixth military branch serving this purpose -- and revealed the Trump administration wants to create the “Space Force” by 2020.

8/11/18: Humanity's first visit to a star. NASA's Parker Solar Probe explored the sun's atmosphere in a mission. This is the agency's first mission to the sun and its outermost atmosphere, the corona. During this mission NASA may have found a ‘wall’ at the edge of our solar system. NASA’s spaceship called New Horizons spotted what they believe is the hydrogen wall that surrounds our solar system.

11/26/18: NASA announced that its MARS InSight lander landed successfully on the surface of the Red Planet, ending a journey that lasted six months and more than 300 million miles.

12/20/18: President Donald Trump ordered the creation of "Space Command", a move the administration is labeling a precursor to creating a US Space Force.